Oil prices under pressure as US crude inventories climb

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week by 9.337mn barrels for the week ending March 22, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). The API reported a 1.519mn-barrel drop in crude inventories in the week prior.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Energy (DOE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by another 0.7mn barrels as of March 22. Inventories are now at 363mn barrels – the highest point since last April.

Oil prices were traded down ahead of the API data release on Tuesday despite the Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries that so far have knocked out an estimated 900,000 barrels per day of total refining capacity. Brent crude was trading down 0.78% on Wednesday at $86.07 per barrel, down roughly $1.40 per barrel compared to this time last week, but up nearly $5 per barrel on the month. The US benchmark WTI was trading down on the day by 0.51% at $81.53, down roughly $2 per barrel compared to last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the US gasoline inventories fell this week by 4.437mn barrels after falling by 1.574mn barrels in the week prior. As of last week, gasoline inventories were about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest EIA data.

Distillate inventories rose this week, by 531,000 barrels, adding to last week’s 512,000 barrel gain. Distillates were 5% below the five-year average for the week ending March 15, the latest EIA data shows.

Cushing inventories also rose this week, gaining 2.392mn barrels after climbing by 325,000 barrels in the previous week.